Chosen Again
by Crazy Birdy
Summary: Lloyd and Collette didn't want there to be any more Chosens. They didn't want any more sacrifices. What will happen when two people are chosen, again? What will happen in this new quest to regenerate the world? How will the day be saved this time? Wheee!
1. The Great Kharlan War, A History

YO! It's been awhile since I, the great and wonderful Crazy Birdy, have written a story for this website... okay, well... I've been writing... but not updating.

This will be my first ToS fic, so I'm really excited! I can't wait for all my ultra cool beauties and lovely hunnies to send me reviews!

...Okay...Not Really...Dude! I'M A GIRL!...I just happen to be a Zelos fan...I just love his stupid manner of speech...

Otto: SIS! Get on with the story already!

Me: Fine, fine... just stop yelling. Oh, and Krate... DISCLAIMER!

Krate: SIGH Listen up everybody, 'cause this is the disclaimer and I'm not repeating myself! NONE of us own ToS... Birdy doesn't own anything though... I'M the one with the gamecube and game... Mwahahahahahahah!

Me: Worst disclaimer ever!

Chosen Again Chapter One: The Great Kharlan War, A History, by: Kratos Aurion

"Darn research projects!" she cursed, looking through the books she had piled on the library table. Normally, projects were no problem for her... especially those she was required to do for history. For the most part, she could put off the project until the last minute. Yup, she's a procratinator... but it always seemed to work out for her. She's never gotten anything but "A"s in her life. The great part was, even when she only had the hour between waking up and going to school to work on the project she always got an awesome, if not perfect, score WITH minimal effort. Seriously, she didn't even try... she was just some freaky nerd who always got every answer right... so strange.

Today was out of the ordinary for her. She couldn't even figure out what to do her project on! Chibulka had assigned the new freshie honors class a BIG history project. She told them to look up a war... and not just any war, but the oldest one they could find. Because of limited library resources and websites that EVERYONE knew about, they were all bound to have the same project. The thing that this girl I was talking about hates the most, is being like other people. She was always trying to be different... so she could be called an individual.

She really didn't want to have the same project as the other kids... especially Maggy, her best friend and greatest academic competition. Yes, she was her best friend, but sometimes... the little green monster of jealousy decided to loom over the friends... our so far main character sometimes thought about the friendship and what was going on. She loved Maggy like a sister, but sometimes asked herself if the friendship was worth it. They had known each other for years... they'd been best friends for as long as they could really remember. Ever since Tor(our main character thus far) had taken out that bully back in the first grade. Back then, everyone had recess together... the fifth graders could even play with the first graders... Christ, whose idea was that system anyway!?! So... there was a fifth grade bully that was always making fun of , picking on, and hurting the first graders. One day, Tor snapped. She wouldn't take it any more. She couldn't stand to watch people suffer like that, so she got rid of the problem. She confronted the bully and... well, for a first grader, she was pretty tough. She beat the snot out of that giant freak.

Maggy had been friends with Tor ever since... and maybe a bit before... I don't quite recall. Tor served as a protector for all of her friends, especially Maggy. She was the smart girl, but also the strong girl... coincidentally, she had trouble making new friends. People always seemed to be intimidated by Tor... by either her intelligence or strength. Seeing as she was stronger than most of the guys at school... she had yet to find a boyfriend.

All the events of her life, friendships(and lack there of), competition, the quest for individuality... it all drove her to do her best this time, now that she was in highschool. She HAD to find the greatest war ever. She had to write the greatest report ever, make the best models, draw the best pictures, and have great and credible sources for her research. Thinking things through some more, she set down the book she'd been looking at.

"The War of 1812? As if! That's still way too recent! AAAAAHHHHH! This is so... so... FRUSTRATING!"

"Tor! You must be quiet in the library! You know the rules!" the librarian hissed.

"ACK! Sorry ma'am," she whispered back. Sighing, she resumed her search. "The Kharlan War? I've never heard of that. Let's see...

The Kharlan War, A History, by Kratos Aurion. Interesting. Cruxis? An organization of angels? I thought this was a nonfiction book...

'The war was finally ended by the Hero Mithos.' Interesting. 'It was first thought that he merely stopped the war by making peace, but he did not. He used the power Origin, the King of the Summon Spirits, to split apart the world. It became two seperate worlds, one called Sylvarant and the other known as Tethe'alla.' That's impossible! The world coudn't break into two!" the girl exclaimed.

She became engulfed in the story and read the entire book, right there in the school library. She missed her next few classes, but was amazed at what she read. Finally, Maggy stopped by the library, wondereing where her best friend had disappeared to. "Tor! There you are! How long have you been in here? It's time to go home. You missed class!"

"ACK! What!?! I missed class! NO! That can't be! What time is it?" Tor gasped.

"I told you, it time to go home. Can't you figure out from that that its tree o'clock? Jeeze!" Maggy groaned, none the less putting on a smile. "Really, Tor. Come on. We better get going."

"It's time to go home, and I've been here since second period! I missed almost the entire day of classes! Wait, what do you mean 'we' have to go?" Tor said, her mind finally catching up to reality again.

"We have to go to my house to work on our bio project, remember?" Maggy replied.

"Oh, right! Can we PLEEEEEEEEASE do the project on reptiles and amphibians! You know how I love frogs, toads and snakes! They are so COOL!" Tor grinned.

"Wow, we better get going now if we expect to get there before bedtime." she groaned, holding her head. Tor could be so strange some times. Maggy just shook her head.

"What do you mean by that?" Tor asked, starting to fume. Sometimes, Maggy was just too mean... that was probably because Tor herself was mean... and not a very good influence on Maggy... oh well, she wouldn't take the blame for it anyway.

"I mean that with you attention span, I have this feeling that we'll be stopping quite a lot on the trip home."

Tor checked out the book on the Kharlan War. She didn't think it was real, but she had to try asking her teacher about it. The book WAS marked as nonfiction... maybe she could do her report on it... by what the book said, this war was incredibly old. Probably the oldest war ever recorded.

After an hour or so of working on the bio project, Tor got ready to leave for home. Shoving her bio book into her back pack, she got up to leave.

"Tor, you had trouble squeezing the book in you bag. What's that HUGE book you have in there? It looks like it's taking up all the space." Maggy said, walking over to try and get a good look at the book.

"It's nothing!" Tor shouted. "Um... see ya!" she called running out the door. "LATERS!" she called from half way down the block, as Maggy seemed to be following her out the door.

"Tor, you are one strange person." Maggy said sighing and closing the door.

Me: Well, what do you think so far? I know that the characters from the game aren't in there yet, but look out! Lloyd and Collette are going to be in the next chapter... and WOOOOT! Why woot? Because Zelos is going to be in my story! Yay for Zelos!

Read and review! If you don't, Zelos will be upset. He really wants his hunnies to review!


	2. Sent By Cruxis

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYY!!!!!!

Chapter Two! I'm so excited. I'm getting a lot of typing done today.

Zelos: Hey there, bud.

Me: Bud? But... I'm a girl! You only ever call Lloyd that! I want to be called a hunny or a beauty too!

Zelos: Hmm? Well, if that's what you want, my cool beauty. So long as I look good in this story of yours.

Me: I don't have to do anything then! You always look good, Zelos! You come by it naturally!

Sheena: Sure, feed this moron's ego EVEN MORE! Grr!!

Zelos: Relax! I like this girl better now! She knows greatness when she finds it! Hahaha!

Me: In your face Sheena!

Disclaimer: I don't own ToS or any characters... in fact, I own almost nothing. I'm pretty poor. I'm going to try and save up enough cash to buy a Zelos figurine though!

Chapter Two: Sent By Cruxis

Sighing, Tor crawled under the covers of her bed. She grabbed the book about the Kharlan War off of her nightstand and opened it up to one of the few pages with pictures. There was a blonde haired boy, a blue haired boy, a red haired man, and a green haired girl standing in front of a giant tree in the picture. It looked like it was a copy of a very old painting.

"Based on what the book says, the blond must be the Hero Mithos." Tor said to herself. "So, the girl HAS to be Martel, the one who Mithos was trying to bring back... his sister who later became a goddess after both siblings had truly died... Then the blue haired one must be Yuan, and the man with the red hair must be Kratos... HE wrote the book... Hmm..." Sighing, she decided it was best for her to go to bed soon... but she had to read some of it... she had already finished the book at school, but she felt compelled to read more.

"I know, I'll read the part about the rejoining of Sylvarant and Tethe'alla again. That was really dramatic and truly fascinating!" Tor said grinning. She flipped through the pages looking for the picture of the Chosen's group that stopped the worlds' issue of vying for mana. That was where the story of the rejoining of the worlds began.

She found the picture. There was a young blond girl at the center. She was the Chosen of Sylvarant. Next to her, holding her hand was a boy with short brown hair. He was the boy who took control of Mithos Yggdrasill's sword. There were two small children on the swordsman's right. The one with silvery hair was a half elf who was incredibly intelligent. The one with pink hair was an axe wielder who had a problem with an exsphere, causing her to keep the form of a child... even though she was much older. There was a man in handcuffs who had blue hair. He was a president of a corporation, but was at one point in his life forced to murder his lover. There was a woman with silvery hair. She was the boy's sister. She too, was a half elf... but she was a teacher, and seemed to be obsessed with learning more and studying the unknown. There was also a woman with black hair. She was a ninja and a summoner. She formed pacts with the summon spirits so that they could use that power to save the two worlds. Then there was a boy with long red hair. He had a smirk on his face, and his hand seemed to be inching towards the ninja woman. That boy was the Chosen of Tethe'alla.

"They look like a pretty motley crew... but I guess you can't REALLY choose who is going to help save the world... it all depends on who the most capable people are..." Tor sighed. She sat back in her bed and reread the part of the story about joining Sylvarant and Tethe'alla.

She woke up the next morning... Saturday. The best day of the week in my opinion!

She opened her eyes to find that she fell asleep with the book on her face. She had just gotten through the part when the swordsman Lloyd had to name the tree that was formerly known as the Giant Kharlan Tree. It turns out that it came to be called Yggdrasill. She later read about the magical injections that the Chosen of Tethe'alla had in order to wield magic swords. It turns out that people from the University town of Sybak were later able to use magical injections to slow down people's metabolisms so that their bodies wouldn't age, as half elves/ angels had done. It looked to be risky later on, so it was banned... at least that's what it said in the book. It also said that the original Chosen group was given a special exception to the ban, and they were given magical injections, should the world fall into peril again... should they be needed. The Chosen's group became the new Cruxis... but it wasn't evil.

It was truly an amazing tale. Sighing for the umpteenth time, she got up to go have some breakfast. She wandered into the kitchen. They had baked cookies the night before and so, she grabbed a few cookies from the jar and poured herself some milk.

"I hope I can do the project on that book," she sighed. Just then, her little brother Otto walked in.

"What are you talking about? What project? Which book?" he asked.

"None of your beeswax!" she grumbled, shoving a cookie into her mouth. She took a swig of milk and swallowed. Okay, this Saturday wasn't looking to be the best weekend, but... okay, yeah... it bit so far.

She finished off a few more cookies and left the kitchen. She went back to her room and tossed her pajamas on the floor. She threw on some clothes and went out to the back yard. It was a pretty nice day out... but it was way too bright. She just winced as she walked over to the old wooden swing set. She cursed that the sun could be so bright, SO early in the morning. Sitting on a swing, she kicked off her shoes and started swinging.

"That would be so amazing if the stories were true. It would be the greatest thing ever to see that tree, Yggdrasill. What if it was true? What if there was mana? What would things be like?" She whispered into the wind that blew past her face. She continued to swing.

"Well, I'd imagine that seeing as it IS true, it would be exactly as it is now... but I could be wrong... that tends to happen." came a voice.

"What!?! Who said that?" She gasped, falling off the swing. Standing up, she began to look around. "Who are you and what are you doing on my property!?!"

"I am the leader of the organization known as Cruxis," came the voice. You could tell by the way that the voice said it, it was having fun. You could also tell that the voice came from a guy.

"Cruxis? No one knows about Cruxis... unless they read that book. Are you really from the Chosen's group? If you're the leader of the new Cruxis... then you must be either Collette or Lloyd... seeing as you sound like a guy you must be Lloyd." she deduced.

"WOW! You're really smart! Maybe you're smarter than Professor Sage!" the voice gasped. Then, the unexpected happened. The owner of the voice made himself visible. An angel descended from the clouds. He looked just like the swordsman in red from the book... only he had gorgeous wings that shone like gossamer.

"You really ARE Lloyd. Wow! This is SOOOOOOOO cool!" she exclaimed. "Those wings are AWESOME! It must be so much fun to fly!"

"I know! It's the best!" he exclaimed. "Oh, um... anyway, I have to be serious. You, Tor, are a direct descendent of the two greatest powers of Cruxis." he began.

"You and Collette, right?" she asked, looking up at him. "So, you're like my super long and unbelievable amount of greats grandpa?" she asked.

"Yeah!" he exclaimed. "Um, anyway... You are about to be granted the power of the angels, for there is an important matter concerning the world that we need your help with." he said.

"Wait, so does that mean I get wings?" she asked. "Because if I got wings, you wouldn't have to tell me anything else. I'd totally do whatever you guys need me to do, JUST for the wings."

"I know what you mean. Wings are SO cool!" he exclaimed. "Oh, and yes. You will get wings. And the power of the angels. You can use special techniques like Angel Feathers and Judgement. It's really cool. Anyway, the giant tree, Yggdrasill, is watched over by the Goddess Martel. It is now the duty of an angel and the two Chosens of Mana to go on a pilgrimmage proving their abilities to the Goddess. They are then to meet her at the center of the world at the tree. They are to lend her their power so that the tree can continue to live. They have to prove that people still deserve to live on this earth. They have to prove their will to live AND that they care for others." Lloyd explained. Taking a breath, he continued, " You are the angel who is to make the pilgrimmage with the two chosens. You are to guide them through the journey. You must protect them from harm of all sorts. You are their guardian. Think you can do it?"

"Well, first I'd like to say... I did not think you had the capacity to give me such a speech. The book kind of said that you were not the brightest candelabra in the store." Tor replied.

"Thanks," he said, "Collette wrote it down for me!"

"I see. The book was right. Anyway, I suppose I cannot deny the world my services, so... Yes, I'll take care of this." Tor decided.

" Great! Then, in that case... I bestow upon you the power of the angels!" he shouted. In an instant, Tor had sprouted wings and suddenly knew all about how one is to cast Judgement from the heavens. Also... she had on a totally different outfit now. She went from a red tank top and cut off shorts to an outfit much resembling those worn by Mithos and Kratos, long ago(the weird white ones).

"Cool!" she smirked. Suddenly, the back door opened and out came the family, into the yard.

"What's going on!?!" her mother cried. "Are you really an angel now?" she asked.

"Officially, yes." Lloyd said.

And so the story was relayed to the family.

"Anyway, from what I know about you, I think you'd be into using swords. Am I right?" Lloyd asked.

"Totally. What about it, though?" Tor asked.

"In honor of the beginning of this new journey to regenerate the world and maintain the tree, I want to give you your starting weapons," Lloyd said. He pulled out some wooden swords. "I began my journey with Collette using these wooden swords. I want you to use them too."

"Um, okay. Whatever you say Gramps." she said, taking the swords. "So, I'm going to use these to fight monsters? Interesting. Well, whatever. I'm still pretty excited!" she exclaimed.

"We'll see how long that enthusiasm lasts," Otto grumbled. "You get bored so easily."


	3. The First Chosen

Alright! Chapter Three this time! I'm on a roll!

Zelos: Why am I not in the story yet? You know my hunnies want me!

Me: I know, but you must be patient, Oh Great and Wonderful Zelos!

Zelos: Alright, but I still think it's cruel to deny my cute hunnies what they want!

Sheena: And what would that be?

Zelos: Me of course!

Me: SIGH I own nothing, got it? That's the best disclaimer I have... sorry.

Chapter Three: The First Chosen

"So, Lloyd said the first Chosen is someone I know very well. In fact, she goes to school with me and we have several classes together." Tor thought out loud. "Heh, it's probably Maggy. Maybe I'll get lucky and she'll be the Chosen and this thing will be easier than I thought."

Suddenly, another angel came down. This one was a blond girl. It had to be Collette. "You ARE smart. Just like Lloyd said. How did you figure out the identity of the first Chosen so quickly?" she asked.

"Seriously? Maggy really is the Chosen? I was just goofing around. I only said that because she's a friend that has classes with me and well... she kind of looks like you." Tor replied.

"Well, she's a distant relative. She's the new Chosen of the area that was Sylvarant. Your town used to be Iselia, you know!" Collette smiled.

"Wow. She's a klutz of a blond from Iselia... just like you... So, Maggy and I are like... cousins now? Is that right? I think this has got to be the weirdest thing ever..." she sighed.

It was Sunday night. The kids had school the next day. Tor was starting to get a bit nervous. She had to confront her best friend about Cruxis and start looking for the Chosen of the former Tethe'alla. Life was getting a bit more complicated.

Tor and her brothers went to bed that night, thinking about the fate of the world. The two boys had decided that they would travel with their sister and help to protect the Chosens. After all, they liked living on earth... and they hated school... this journey was calling to Krate and Otto.

Taking one last look at the book that seemed to start all of this, Tor gave one last sigh and drifted into unconsciousness.

Tor woke up clutching the book. "Strange... I thought I left it on my nightstand... Hmmm... Perhaps I am feeling a bit more nervous about this than I thought. Maybe I should just buy this book. It could come in handy." she murmured.

She got out of bed and the first thing she did, she realized, was to have her wings appear and stretch them out. As her wings appeared, her Cruxis clothing magically appeared on her. When she put her wings away, the clothes stayed... "SWEET!!! I don't even have to get dressed... I guess I'll just wear this outfit to school." she shrugged, a smile creeping onto her face. She started walking down the hall to the kitchen.

After grabbing a bite to eat, she and her brothers got ready to go to the highschool to pick up the Chosen. Otto was still in junior highschool... but he was ditching so he wouldn't miss a minute of the action.

They got to the school and started walking down the halls, looking for Maggy. EVERYONE turned to stare at the girl in the strange white clothing... you know, that weird girl who had two wooden swords on belts at her hips. THAT weirdo. You all know which one I'm talking about. So, the search for the Chosen continued.

"Where is Maggy?" Tor asked someone who was walking past.

"OH! Man, don't scare me like that Tor!" he cried. "What's with that outfit?"

"Just tell me where Maggy is, Brandon!" Tor said, lifting that pain in the neck by the collar of his shirt. Sure, he was a much larger person than she was, but that's never stopped her from threatening and intimidating him before.

"Oh, um... I think she went to the library. She wanted to do some more research for that bio project that you two are paired up for. PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!" Brandon cried, trying to wriggle out of Tor's grasp.

"Thank you for your cooperation, now go hide under a rock or something." Tor grumbled. Yes, it was just another day at school for Tor... except that now she was an angel.

They checked the library, but Maggy was no where to be found. The three began to get frustrated. They wanted to find the Chosen and get started already. They were getting bored with how the plot was playing out. Krate and Otto turned to Tor. The three silently decided what to do. Tor set to work.

She brought out her wings and flew up into the air. Every pair of eyes in the hall turned towards her. Then, she began to speak.

"I am an angel from the organization known as Cruxis. I seek the first Chosen of Mana so that the journey for world regeneration may begin. Should the journey not take place, the energy that sustains the earth will diminish and the earth and every living thing on it will die. This journey is of the highest priority. This being said, it would be in the best interest of all of you to help me locate the Chosen that hails from this land." Tor announced in a very serious tone.

"Tor's an angel!?! Whoa! That's super cute!" Anthony cried. "So, my super cutie, who is this 'Chosen' and how can I help you find them?" he asked. "I officially offer you my services."

"As decided by fate and birthright, the first of the two Chosens of Mana is Maggy. I MUST locate her so that we may begin the journey and begin our search for the second Chosen."

Everyone set to work looking for Maggy. After about ten minutes of searching for her, she was finally found... just as she was using the hand dryer in the bathroom. When people told her what was goin on, she had to go see Tor. She had to figure out why she was spreading such nonsense and why everyone was believing her. When she finally made her way to Tor, her pal was talking with some people that wanted to come along on the journey. It seems that many people got the same idea about joining the journey and ditching school. Tor was turning down just about everyone. It seems that she told only one other person that they could go along. It was her other best friend. She seemed to be creeping up to Maggy's rank pretty quickly. Kanny(pronounced Kenny) was a newer friend, but she seemed to be the truest friend Tor ever made. She was always willing to talk with her and was comforting when she needed to be. Besides, she was a blast to hang out with.

"Tor! What is all this nonsense about!?! Why are you spouting all this nonsense about you being an angel and stuff? We all know that if you are anything that isn't human, you're a demon." Maggy shreiked. "I can't believe that you are causing SO much trouble!"

"I know this seems strange, but I'm an angel now, really! You have to come wirth me so we can save the world! Come now, Chosen. We must depart. Time is of the escence!" Tor replied rather nonchalantly.

"Prove to me that you're an angel, freak." Maggy hissed. That was cold. She knew how people used to always call Tor a freak. Maggy sunk pretty low just then, pretty low.

"As you wish, Chosen." Tor grumbled, trying to shake off the cold remark from her friend. Remembering that she had to protect this girl in order to save the world, she contained her anger... trying to shake off the pain of betrayal. Tor spread out her wings and flew to the ceiling of the hallway. "Now are you satisfied, Chosen of Mana?"

"Wha? Wha? Wha? Whoa! That's so... so...so... AMAZING! I can't believe it! My best friend is an angel and we're going to save the world!" Maggy cried, finally knowing the truth.

"Chosen, calm yourself. We are hard pressed on time. We MUST set out on the journey of World Regeneration. It will take a great deal of time. First, before we can even begin the real journey, we must find the second Chosen One." Tor explained, still floating in the air. "Only then, can we face the trials of the Goddess Martel. Then, once we have proved ourselves, we are to aid the Goddess herself in restoring the great tree, Yggdrasill. The tree is beginning to wither and die as a result of the wars taking place. These wars are eating up the earth's mana. They are eating at it quickly and our world is dying. We must begin the journey to find the second Chosen TODAY!"

"Right. Well, we better ditch this place. Come on." Maggy said, walking to the school's front doors. "Hurry up!"

Sighing, Tor landed on the ground and started walking the other way. "You do not know what you are doing. In the past, everyone was educated about the history that dealt with the tree, the wars that drained the mana, the Goddess Martel. Chosens were identified at birth and studied the teachings of Martel. You know nothing of what is going on here. You are unprepared and would currently only slow us down. You are trying to take control when you are only human. They send an angel on this journey for a reason. The angel is to lead this journey. You are one of the two Chosens, but you are still only human. I was given the power of the angels to protect you, so that all three people that are needed to help the Goddess, arrive at the center of the world having passed the trials safely. If you put yourself out there unprepared, I'm not sure that even I can protect you."

"What? YOU PROTECT ME? Hah! That's a laugh! I don't need protection! You know how good I've gotten at fighting!" Maggy said, a look of pure poison taking over her face. "I don't need you or anyone. You're treatng me like a little kid!"

Tor ignored this and kept walking, thinking how foolish this girl had become. She focused far too much on pride instead of remaining clear headed. If she stayed like this, they would never pass the trials. This girl would only get in the way. "Kanny! Let's get going. We must inform several people of what is going on. If we are held up much longer, the world could be in SERIOUS danger. Let's meet with the principal first, so that we stay out of trouble here in school. Then we can go to see the mayor. We should probably have him make a public service announcement, to notify everyone of what is happening. Then, we will have to notify your parents that you will be accompanying us on the journey, we will have to speak with Maggy's parents as well. Then, I will give everyone involved in this journey further instructions. You following me?"

"Yes. Okay, so first we go to see the principal, right? Let's go!" Kanny said excitedly.

Me: I hope you are enjoying the story so far. I know it's a little out there, but I'm having a lot of fun writing it... I just hope you all have just as much fun reading it.

Zelos: Well, my cute hunny, if you put me in the story they will have some fun reading it... and I guarantee that you'll have more fun writing it!

Sheena: Seriously, does he have to be in the story? I thought we were friends, Birdy.

Me: Well, we are Sheena... but I like Zelos more. His hair is cool.

Sheena: Maggy was right about the attention span thing.

Me: SHEENA! The readers aren't supposed to know that it's me and my friends and brothers that are in the story!

Sheena: They didn't know all of that until you said it!

Me: Jerk!

Sheena: Ugly!

Me: WHORE!

Zelos: Why do women always fight over me? It's such a burden to be beautiful!

Sheena: We're NOT fighting over you!

Me: R&R!


	4. Preparations & Complications

My chapters are WAY too short. I want to make a long chapter pretty soon... but I want it to be an exciting and dramatic one too...

So it can't be this one. This is Chapter Four. It's just going to give a brief description of what Maggy, Kanny, Otto, Krate, and Tor have to do before the journey. I hope you like it.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!!!!!! Chapter Four!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything... especially ToS... or Invader Zim(there's a reference in there) or Kingdom Hearts/ The Kingdom Hearts Chronicles Videos(there's a reference in there).

Chapter Four: Preparations & Complications

First things go first, right? If that is true, then you all probably know what happens in this chapter... at least at first... Wait... do second things go second? Are things supposed to go in order as they were planned? Wow... that's boring. Ah, well. At least you all know what will happen in this chapter. It will be just as Tor explained in the last chapter. First they will talk to the principal, then the mayor, then parents, and finally she'll give out some MORE instructions. I suppose you could just ignore this chapter if you want. You already know what they'll be doing. They will be making preparations. But where do the complications come in, you ask? Oh, that's somewhere in here too. Nothing can go perfectly, can they? That would be just too boring. But, you can still skip this chapter if you want. I understand.

"Dr. Sefranski, we HAVE to go on this journey! The fate of the world depends on it! We are going to save the world! What don't you understand about that!?!" Kanny cried. She was very frustrated at this point. She wanted to be helpful, so she offered to talk to the principal about the journey while Tor went to the mayor. So far, things weren't looking so good for Kanny. She couldn't get Dr. Sefranski to believe her, and she decided to resort to yelling at him. She had already earned herself a month's worth of detentions in five minutes. Things really weren't looking good for Kanny.

"Sir, what do I have to do to get you to believe me? This really is important and we wanted to make sure you were notified! Won't you at least give me a break because we were curtious enough to tell you? We COULD have just walked out!" Kanny pleaded. "PLEASE! You have to listen to me! I don't want them to think that I'll be worthless on this journey!"

"The story you give me is completely unbelievable. You have no proof to back it up, either. The fact that you've been shouting also doesn't help the situation. Get to class." he said firmly.

"No." Kanny murmured.

"What was that? I TOLD you to get to class." Dr. Sefranski growled.

"No. Dr. Sefranski, I can't do that. I have to do this. I'm not going to let you get in the way of the world being saved. We are going on this journey, and we may not be back fo a very long time... we may miss the rest of our entire highschool career, but we WILL save the world!" Kanny said proudly. With that, she stood up and walked away. She had just told her principal that she wouldn't go to class. It really gave her a rush, she felt excited and as if she could do anything. She knew that her friends would need help at some point. She knew that they'd be in danger. She wanted to be there to help. She wanted to save them. Now, she knew she had a chance.

"Yes, Mayor. Of course." Tor replied. Things seemed to be going rather smoothly for Tor. She had no trouble covincing the mayor of what was going on... but that was most likely due to the wings... and the fact that she called Lloyd and Collette to speak with the mayor as well. They descended from the sky with their great and powerful wings, looking quite angelic. The conversation went very quickly. The mayor took control of the public access television channel and started making announcements about what was happening... the angels of course had to be on the television too... as SOME sort of proof.

"So... the President will be informed of this and he will make announcements. We'll have to make sure that the world knows that two of the three saviors have come from this wonderful little village of ours!" the Mayor grinned.

"As you wish, sir." Tor sighed. She really didn't think that advertising the hick town she grew up in and hated so much was a good idea. The village of Soniadd just plain bites. She's always thought so. If she had her pick, she'd save the entire world, MINUS Soniadd, Illinois. Yes, she'd even save Elmhurst and Rockford... just not Soniadd. She would of course get her family out of Soniadd first... but you get the idea.

"Lloyd, Collette... do you think that you could go and check on Kanny for me? I know she's capable, but I'm always worried about her. She's the closest thing I've ever had to a younger sister... and something tells me she may be in trouble with the principal. Could you two talk with Dr. Sefranski about the journey, please? It would really mean a lot to me if you did." Tor whispered to the two angels as they began to leave.

"Of course! We'll take care of it, won't we Collette!" Lloyd said happily.

Eager to help, Collette agreed. "Yes, sorry to place all of these burdens on you. This is the least we can do to help you!" She giggled a bit, smiling really big.

"Don't apologise. I figure I owe the world for the way I act most of the time..." Tor muttered, grimacing.

"Oh, um sorry." Collette said again.

"Really, you don't have to apologise." Tor murmured.

"Don't worry about it, Tor. She always apologises for everything... whether it has anything to do with her or not..." Lloyd groaned.

"Kanny!" Collette called out. "Is Kanny around here anywhere?" she asked a boy that was walking by.

"Oh, um... I don't know any 'Kenny's. Sorry." the boy said walking off.

"Sorry to bother you!" she called after the boy. "Hmmm... Why can't we find her Lloyd?"

"I think she's probably left or something. If she's not around here, she had to have left, right? She must have talked it over with the principal already! Looks like we aren't needed after all." Lloyd said grinning, proud that he had figured it out.

The principal happened to be walking by at that very moment. "What are you two people doing here? You aren't students here, are you? Why aren't you in class?" Dr. Sefranski demanded.

"Oh, you must be the principal! Sorry, but we aren't students here." Collette said with a huge smile on her face. "We were just looking for Kanny. She was supposed to talk to you about the World Regeneration journey. We came to see if she needed any help talking to you. But, I think she left already, so you two must have finished everything up already! Lloyd and I were about to leave."

"Kanny? That little Indian girl? The one that told me that unbelievable story about having to save the world? She was given a month's worth of detentions and told to go back to class. She refused to do so, saying that she wouldn't let me 'get in the way of the world being saved'. Hah! What a foolish child." the man cackled.

"Hey! That story is the truth! You can't laugh at that girl for being a noble person! Show some decency!" Lloyd shouted at the man.

"Who are you, to talk to me like that?" Dr. Sefranski growled.

He spread out his wings. "The angel who sent these people on the journey," Lloyd said in a commanding tone as he started to float above the man. The principal stood there in awe. He gaped and stared and could not peel his eyes away from the sight of the man with wings. He was terrified, but amazed. He had angered an angel, but he was also seeing an angel for the first time.

"I-I-I-I... I'm sorry." he finally managed to spit out. "She is in no trouble at all sir. That girl will be treated as a hero when she returns, as will the others going on this journey. They will all be treated as heroes."

Tor soon arrived at Kanny's house to find her small friend already there... shaking with excitement.

"Tor! You'll never believe it!" she shouted, running up to her best friend. "You'll never guess what happened when I talked to the principal!"

"What? Did a flying raccoon jump in through the window and knock out Dr. Sefranski with a portable radio, causing us to get out of school trouble free with no explanations whatsoever?" Tor guessed.

"Um... nooooooooooooo." she replied.

"Oh, then did a leprechaun riding a flying beaver-tailed baby come in through the air vents and smack Dr. Sefranski in the head with a magic shillelagh and knock him out, causing us to get out of school trouble free with no explanations whatsoever?" Tor guessed again.

"Also no." Kanny replied. She didn't ask Tor to stop guessing yet though... she wanted to see how many insane ideas she could come up with.

"Alright, then did a butterfly fly into the room, capturing Dr. Sefranski's attention, and lead him off a cliff that had a bunch of sharp and pointy rocks at the bottom, causing us to to get out of school trouble free with no explations whatsoever?"

"Still no."

"Then, did a little robot dressed in a green doggy suit fly in through the window, breaking the glass, screaming something about a man named Sanchez while holding a fishbowl with a particularly angry looking fish in it, slam Dr. Sefranski's head in said fishbowl causing the angry evil fishy to eat our principal causing us to get out of school trouble free with no explanations whatsoever?"(The green doggy, GIR, and his fish Sanchez are from another story, called Tales of Invader Potter and the Whitestone School. It's really funny. Check it out if you have time!)Tor guessed again.

"Nope." Kanny said, trying not to laugh. She had to keep count of these explanations. Explanation Tally: 4

"Hmmmmmm... Then, did a heartless jump in through the door in slo-mo and pretend to shoot Dr. Sefranski while going whoosh, scaring the old man, but then the heartless fell and layed there all limp and dead like, and then did Dr. Sefranski run off to arrange its funeral, causing us to get out of school trouble free without any explanations whatsoever?"

"...No..." Explanation Tally: 5

"Then,-"

"Nope, you still don't have it." Explanation Tally: 5,985,164,322,845,186,418,723,421,564,247

"So, did you yell at him and he was all like I don't believe the story and you were all like, but its true, but then you got lots of detentions, but then you begged and pleaded, but he still wouldn't listen, so then you told him you wouldn't let him get in the way of our saving the world, and then you up and left... causing us to get out of school with lots of trouble but STILL no explanations whatsoever.?" Tor asked.

"No- wait... yes." Kanny corrected herself. "How did you know? Yeah, it took you forever to guess... but you got it... how?"

"Beats me, lucky guess?"Tor tried. "Anyway, should we try talking your to parents about the journey? We really need to be getting on with the journey. We need to find the next Chosen."

"Right. Hey, Tor?" Kanny started.

"Yeah? Look, if it's about it sounding like I'm blaming you about the time thing, I'm not. It's my fault for goofing around and guessing such silly things. Don't worry about the time thing for now. Okay?" Tor said in a reassuring tone, smiling the whole time.

"Um... no, it's not that." Kanny explained.

"Oh, well... What is it?"

"Just... thanks."

"For what, Kanny?"

"For inviting me to come along... even though I'm wasn't chosen... or have anything to do with this... You're a great friend. Thanks for including me." Kanny said, looking up at her friend and smiling. The two of them really did get along like sisters sometimes... and not in the way that you may think. Not all sisters fight... and these two certainly didn't seem to. They really were the best of friends.

"Hey... um. It was nothing. I really want you to come along. I'd miss my best friend too much if I had to go on that long journey and leave her behind. I wouldn't be able to stand it. Besides, I KNOW that you'll be able to contribute... no matter what happens, you always help me out... and this DOES have to do with you. This is about living on this planet, about being a living creature... this has to do with everyone. And as for the whole Chosen thing... Maggy got the title because she was born into a certain family, not because she did anything special. I don't think it really makes a difference if you're a Chosen or not. I think everything depends on who you are as a person, not as who you are born as or what family you are born into. No matter what happens, you're still you and Maggy's still Maggy... and I'm still me. Things are going to be fine... not because we have Chosens and an angel... but because we have a group of people that care about each other and we'll take care of each other... We're all going to save the world." Tor said carefully, thinking over the meaning of what she had actually said.

"Tor, you're so weird!" Kanny laughed, breaking the uncomfortable silence that had begun to engulf the two as they thought of the meaning behind Tor's words.

"Heh heh! Yeah! I guess so!" Tor laughed back. "Let's talk to your parents already! Come on!"

"But! BUT! Mom! Dad! I HAVE to go! They need me! My friends need me! The WORLD needs me!" Kanny cried.

"It is the truth. As the angel that leads this journey, I must tell you that we require her help. She will be of great value on the journey for World Regeneration." Tor explained, leaning farther back into the chair. In her mind she was weighing the effects of bringing out her wings. It may either convince them... or frighten them... It was a lot harder to figure out when it came to worried parents instead of easy to scare school children. If you scare the parents... they may keep the child away from the journey.

Even after saying that Kanny was required to save the world her parents would not allow her to go. They said to find someone else to save the world. They wouldn't let someone put their daughter in danger.

"Please, hear me out. If we cannot complete this journey... the world and everyone living on it will die. Truth be told, Kanny isn't necessary for the journey, but I'd still like to bring her along. She's my best friend, adn she always helps me get through tough times. There will be many tough times during this journey. Kanny may not be needed to regenerate the world... but I'm going to need her. I almost always need her help... there's no doubt that I'll need her help this time." Tor explained.

Even with a heartfelt explanation like that... they still would not let her go. They couldn't be certain that she would be safe... and they would not allow that.

"I swear to you, I will protect her with my life. I will do whatever it takes to make sure that she is safe during the journey. I will literally be her guardian angel. I will use all of my heavenly powers to protect her. Please, allow your daughter to be part of the group that goes down in history as the people that saved the world. Let her be one of the first people to see the world in it's regenerated state. Let her come on this journey." Tor tried.

But when it all came down to it... Kanny wasn't allowed to go on the journey. Her parents didn't trust that she would be safe. They didn't trust that the girl promising to protect her best friend was capable... or an angel.

"Tor, just show them that you are an angel. They'll have to believe that I'll be alright if I'm protected by an angel!" Kanny shouted, getting fed up with the way her parents were acting.

Tor was able to sympathize though... At first, she didn't want to bring along Kanny. Kanny was known for being the small adorable one... the small adorable ones are always the most fragile. She didn't want anything to happen to her best friend... her "travel-sized" friend as she'd been nick-named(she is also nick-named the "fun-sized" friend). Yes, she was tiny and conveniently sized for travel... but that didn't mean that Tor wasn't worried about bringing her along. She was terrified that something bad would happen and that she'd be without a best friend.

Tor obliged what Kanny had said and brought out her wings. As Kanny's parents began to gape, the fun-sized one felt certain that she'd get to go on the journey. She asked Tor to fly around the room a bit, and Tor obliged.

"So, seeing as Tor is an angel... and she can undoubtedly protect me... I can go, right?" Kanny said, grinning from ear to ear.

"No. You aren't going... This only proves that this sort of thing is real... that there really is tremendous danger out there. You are not going." That was their final decision. Kanny could not help the Chosens' group to regenerate the world.

"I think it's time we give up fighting this particular battle my friend. It really would be dangerous... and I'm sure that your parents know what they are doing... Besides, what can someone do in this sort of situation... except to do what they think is best. That's always the best thing someone can do. You have to do what you think is best. They were doing what they thought was best, so I can't really fault them for it. I'm still really sorry that you can't come... Sorry, but I have to see if Maggy has persuaded her parents yet... Laters." Tor finished, flying off to the south, towards Maggy's house.

"But! This isn't fair." Kanny whispered as her friend flew off.

"SOOOOOOOOOOOORRYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!" Tor called one last time... still truly meaning it. "I have to go Kanny... We're going to leave tomorrow at noon. I need to sort things out and get some rest! ... Bye!"

"Really? You have the Cruxis crystal and everything? EVERYTHING is sorted out? Sweet, then I can pack a couple things for the pilgrimmage and then hit the hay. Laters. Thanks for taking care of it all Maggy." Tor said, turning away from the door.

Maggy dropped her smile as she closed the door. "I'm not going to get in the way. I'm not! I'm going to prove that I was chosen for a reason. If anyone will mess thingsd up or get in the way... It'll be her... not me... I can't believe she said I'd get in the way." she hissed out. She leaned against the door and sank down to the ground. This journey wasn't getting off to a good start.

Me: Okay... It was longer than I expected. And now that I really look at it, I use "..." way too much. I have to fix that.

Zelos: It's alright, my cute hunny. You're just, um... um...

Me: I really do use too many "..."s! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!

Zelos: I got it now! You're just causing a dramatic pause!

Sheena: Shut up!

Me: R&R! Please... Before I use more dots... and Sheena kills Zelos...

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! It's the dot dot dot curse!

Anyway, about the whole guessing what happened thing with Kanny and Tor, well... I was bored. Anyway, my brothers and I goof off like that all the time. Those guesses were taken from a real life situation. I think I should be congratulated for my amazing sense of realism that I some how put in this awesome story! Gives a very Zelos-esk grin  
Thank you, thank you. No applause, just cash... and hunnies (so long as they are hot guy hunnies).


	5. Do What You Think Is Best

I'm getting to work on chapter five! Yay! I'm so happy!

I hope that everyone reading this story is enjoying reading it as mauch as I enjoy writing it.

Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing, so leave me alone to sulk.

Chapter Five: Do What You Think Is Best

"I'm home!" Tor called as she walked through the door. She walked a few more steps and proceeded to drop onto the sofa. It had been a frustrating day, trying to deal with all the whiney people that stood in the way of World Regeneration. Everyone seemed to have some issue with what was going on. It was a major pain.

She just stared at the ceiling, thinking about how they were going to start on a journey tomorrow. It was already putting her in a state of mental distress. She was glad that Kanny wouldn't be put in danger, but she was upset that she would not go on the journey with them. She was happy that her brothers wanted to help and that their parents would allow them to help, but she was scared to death that something terrible would happen to them. She was feeling terrible about the way she had acted towards Maggy, yet she was relishing in the thought of how she had put her down. She was utterly confused. She had so many mixed feelings about what was happening.

"I don't think that I'm cut out for this angel thing." Tor whispered to herself. She sighed. "Lloyd said that we have to prove to the Goddess that we all care about people. How are we going to do that if we don't even care about everyone in our little group? How am I supposed to lead these people and protect them... when I don't care what happens to them? I know that whatever happens, I'll never let Krate and Otto come to harm... but Maggy... Hmmm. And what about the next Chosen?" What if she had the same relationship with them as she had with Maggy... A friendship based on false trusts. The two girls were slipping apart, and the fate of the world was resting on their shoulders. Things couldn't get worse.

"Okay, I packed everything I'll need. Plenty of bandages and gauze. Plenty of medicine, including aspirin, ibuprofin, iodine, and hydrogen peroxide. Plenty of lotions and ointments. I should be able to take care of most ailments on this journey." Tor said, whiping her brow and smiling.

"You're such a worry-wort!" her younger brother Otto laughed. "We're not going to get sick! We don't need all that medicine!"

"I think Otto may be right for a change. We can't get sick THAT much." her older brother Krate sighed. "All that stuff will just weigh you down, Sis."

"Guys, you need to remember that it's not just us going on the journey. We'll be going with the two Chosens. That adds two more people that could get sick. Also, seeing as we'll be going through other countries that have different illnesses than we are used to, our health risk goes way up. We just may need all of this stuff." Tor replied. As the boys pondered what she said, she came to another realization.

"Oh! I forgot to pack something!" Tor cried, running off for a minute. She came back with a small box in her hands. "We should bring along some soap! We can get more later on in the journey, since we'll obvioously run out pretty quickly." she said, stuffing the package in her bag. "We can stock up on medicines later on in the journey as well. You can never be too careful!" Tor said smiling.

Tor was smiling an awful lot lately. It was abnormal. The fact that she was always smiling seemed to bother her brothers. It didn't just bother them... It disturbed them to no end.

"Are you feeling alright? You've been acting pretty strange lately. I don't think we should go on the journey if you aren't feeling well." Krate said, feeling his sister's forehead... oddly finding no signs of a fever or any sort of ailment. "The journey won't go well if we start it off with you being sick. Soooooo, fess up! Tell us what's going on." he demanded.

"Oh, um, well... Nothing's wrong!" she said happily. "I'm just, uh, really excited to get going on this journey! We're going to regenerate the world! This is going to be really cool!"

They all started to feel uneasy. Awkwardness set in. They all seemed to come to the same conclusion about shaking off that feeling.

"TIME FOR BED!!!" they all shouted in unison..

Tor awoke feeling very stiff the next morning. What a pain. That was never a good start to the day, no matter what sort of freak you are.

She yawned, stretched, spread her wings, and started walking to the kitchen. She poured some ceral into a bowl, pulled the milk out of the fridge, poured it, and started to dig in. Raisin and granola cereal was her favorite breakfast.

"So, Tor... Are you ready to start the journey?" Otto asked excitedly. He spooned some cereal into his mouth and waited for an answer. His sister seemed to ignore him and continued to crunch on her cereal. "TOR! EARTH TO TOR! WAKE UP!" he shouted.

Shocked, Tor fell out of her chair. "YOU DON'T HAVE TO YELL! I heard you fine before! I wanted to wait to answer, seeing as I WAS STILL CHEWING MY FOOD!!! STUPID!!!" Tor shouted back. Tor wasn't usually a morning person. Today was a perfect example of her lack of happy... morning enthusiasm.

After the siblings successfully bit each other's heads off(Metaphorically of course... wait, IS that a metaphor? What the hell is a metaphor again, anyway? If someone could refresh my memory, I'll have Genis bake you some cookies. Anyway, as to why I won't look it up... I'm lazy! Wheee!), things calmed down a bit.

"So, yeah. I'm ready to start the journey and I'm excited. We are still waiting until noon to leave, though. We want to give Maggy a chance to wake up and make sure she's prepared. It's a big journey, and it's really important. We should make sure we're all prepared." Tor explained.

So, after sitting around and waiting for noon to arrive... it was FINALLY time to leave on the journey. They picked up Maggy from her house and then the four people started walking out of Soniadd. They suddenly heard a noise in the bushes as they reached the outskirts of the village.

"What was that noise?" Maggy asked. Starting to duck behind the three siblings.

"Well, Lloyd told me that monsters were starting to appear in the world, now that the mana was depleating... and our defenses from magic are down. It COULD be a monster. No one has any weapons yet besides myself, so I'll take care of this." Tor explained. She dropped her pack and spread her wings. She flew up into the air and started to approach the bush, hoping that she could sneak up on the monster.

Suddenly...

"Tor! I'm going on the journey with you!"

"Kanny!" Tor cried, diving at her friend. She picked her up and flew into the air. Then, she started to shake her by the shoulders. "What got into you!?! I could have killed you! Don't sneak up on people like that!" Tor cried.

"I'm-sorry-just-please-stop-skaking-me!" Kanny shouted, still being shaken by her crazy angel friend.

"Oh, um... right." Tor grumbled. She landed and placed her friend on the ground. "Kanny, what are you doing here?"

"I finally got my parents to cave! They said I could go on the journey with you!" Kanny replied happily.

There was silence for a while... Tor was the one to break that silence. "Kanny, your parents didn't seem to be capable of changing their minds last night. I can't possibly think of what you could have said to get them to let you go."

"That's not important! The point is, I get to come with you!" Kanny explained. There was more silence... that was followed by a deep sigh.

"Kanny, you're lying. Aren't you? Your parents didn't say that you could come, did they? You ran away to join us. You did, didn't you?" Tor said solemnly.

"Um, well..." Kanny started.

"Kanny, you shouldn't have done this. You parents will be worried sick about you. I know that you want to come along, but your parents are just trying to keep you safe. They are doing what they think is best!" Tor explained, feeling exasperated.

"That's right!" Kanny shouted back. "They were doing what they thought was best... but... but... But now I'm doing what I think is best!"

"What?" Tor asked.

"You said that the best thing a person can do... is to do what they think is best! Now I'm doing what I think is best! I'm coming along with you. I'm going with my friends to help them. I'm going to help my best friend save the world!" Kanny cried, almost literally. She hoped so badly that her friend would accept this explanation. She hoped with all her might that she'd get to help them. She hoped that she could prove that she could be useful... and strong.

Tor looked at her friend. Realizing what was happening. She realized how badly she wanted to help. Tor saw that her friend was on the verge of tears and did the only thing she could think to do. She turned away and started walking.

The entire group stared as she started to leave, amazed that she had done this. They never thought that Tor would abandon Kanny here. They thought for sure that she'd bring her along.

"Tor! Sis!" Otto called after her.

"Hurry up!" she called back. "The world isn't going to regenerate itself, you know!"

Her brothers and Maggy began to follow, looking back at the small girl sadly.

"I said to hurry it up! That means you too, fun-size!" Tor called. "If you don't catch up, we'll leave you behind! Come on, Kanny!" she shouted.

"You... you mean... you mean I can come along!?! REALLY!?!" Kanny cried.

"Of course," Tor called. "If I faulted you for doing what you thought was best... or if I stopped you from doing what you thought was best... I'd be a hypocrite, wouldn't I? I gave you that whole speech on it yesterday... I suppose I should have expected you to turn my own words on me. You ARE pretty darn smart." Tor smiled.

Me: What do you think? Was it dramatic enough?

Zelos: Again, why aren't I in the story yet? What's up with that, my cute hunny?

Me: Well, you'll be in the story soon. I PROMISE!

Zelos: Alright, fine.

Me: Anyway, I'm normally into the whole Zelloyd pairing thing... so, don't expect much for you. I'm not very enthusiastic about sticking you with Sheena this time.

Zelos: ALRIGHT! Where IS me voluptuos hunny, anyway?

Me: SIGH R&R!


	6. The Journey Begins

Chapter Six! WOOT! WOOT! WOOT WOOT WOOT WOOT WOOT!

I may be a beginner writer still, but it's so much fun to write!

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia or any of the characters or plots. It's really depressing, you know?

Chapter Six: The Journey Begins...

"So, what are we doing on this journey exactly?" Otto asked, tigging on his older sister's sleeve. He knew that they were going to save the world. He knew that they were going to face "trials" of some sort. He knew that they were going to travel alot... but that was it. He didn't know how they were going to save the world. He didn't know what sort of trials they were going to face. He didn't know where they were going to travel.

"We're regenerating the world, duh!" Maggy groaned.

"Um, Chosen... I believe that the question was directed at me. As for what we are doing on this journey... I suppose we should find the second Chosen first. If the first Chosen was in former Iselia... then the second Chosen will probably be in former Meltokio... at least that's what Lloyd said. Collette said that they know who the Chosen is... but that they travel a lot. They think that the Chosen is from former Meltokio though. So, we should head there." Tor sighed.

"Um, where is Meltokio?" Krate asked.

"Well, Meltokio no longer exists. A new city was built over it. I believe that Meltokio eventually became Tokyo. The book I was reading had maps of the world before and after it was put back together. Meltokio ended up in what is presently Japan... probably Tokyo... if my 'calculations' are correct." Tor explained.

"Calculations? What did you calculate?" Kanny asked.

"Nothing really. I just compared it to a current map." Tor laughed.

"So it's agreed? We get to Derris-Kharlan first to ask some questions? Everyone is in agreement?" Tor asked.

"Yup!" "Yeah!" "Sure!" "Totally!" It was unanimous... they had to find some way to get up to Derris-Kharlan. More specifically... Tor had to find some way to carry all of them up there...

"Fine," Tor sighed, "I guess I'll have to take you up there somehow... The only problem is HOW." Tor groaned.

"Any ideas?" Maggy asked.

"Well," Otto started. "Maybe we could tie a rope to her! We could have a plank at the other end to sit on! It would be like a swing at the park!" he cried happily.

"First off, THAT'S THE DUMBEST THING I'VE EVER HEARD!!! Second, I'M NOT LETTING YOU TURN ME INTO A HUMAN PLAYGROUND!!!!!!!!!!!" Tor shouted.

"Well, what if we tie a basket to her? You know, like a hot air balloon?" Krate tried.

"That's perfect!" Otto shouted. "She's already an air head!" he giggled.

"Okay, no more Derris-Kharlan for you. We are not going." Tor said crossing her arms.

"Come on, Tor! I kind of like the idea!" Maggy said grinning.

"Come on, Kanny. Let's get out of here." Tor said, storming off. She was outraged that they would mock her so harshly. She was the leader on this journey, it was declared by the angels... but she was getting no respect. People only ever seemed to even pretend to respect her... if they feared her. If she wanted to be treated well, she'd have to go back to her old ways. The ways she had followed so closely after she saw how they worked on that bully. She had to be cruel and mean to get what she wanted. She had tried being nice, she'd tried so hard, but it didn't work. People just stopped responding to kindness. They stopped long ago. Kindness was thought of as weird, or as a weakness. Acts of kindness are reacted to with astonishment nowadays.

"Alright!" Kanny replied happily, still glad that she was allowed (by Tor, atleast) to go on the journey. The two began to walk off, ignoring the pleas of the two boys they were leaving behind.

"PLEASE DON'T GO!!! DON'T LEAVE US WITH MAGGY!!!!" Tor's brothers cried. "ANYTHING BUT THAT!!!!!!!"

Feeling left out, and a bit hurt, Maggy came up with a retaliation. "You can't expect me to stay here with these NEANDERTHALS!!!! That's a travesty of justice! It's cruel and unusual punishment!!!!!"

After some more snappy come backs, followed by some witty banter, the group resumed their journey.

After about a day and a half of walking, they had made it from northeastern Illinois to the middle of Indiana. For some "city folk" it was an okay distance. They wanted to do things on the journey as they were originally intended to be done, but after a day of walking and getting no where fast... they were fed up with the world. They had to continue with this everyday for who knows how long... and then, find some way to get across the sea... possibly to Africa. Then, they'd have to go across Africa and find some way to Japan.

As Tor surveyede the already worn group, she knew that the journey would not be possible, not as it was going now. Her angel abilities gave her much moe stamina and energy than the rest of her group... but it did nothing to aid her patience... She would have to find another way to go about this.

Her companions soon fell asleep, leaving Tor to sit awake and ponder their next course of action. It didn't bother her to stay up late, truth be told... she was an insomniac. She always had trouble getting to sleep. She never felt as if she should be sleeping when it was dark. It was always the best time to think, so she actually enjoyed her constant sleepless nights.

Tor thought and thought and thought and thought, many ideas coming to mind. None were given much more thought after the original conception, however. She had to find some way to get an angel and four easily worn children around the world. She had to find a way to get an angel and four easily worn children to win countless battles against monsters and beasts. She had to find a way to get an angel and four easily worn children to Japan... to pick up another, probably just as easily worn, child... From there, it would be an angel and five children that she had to watch over. It was going from a heroic quest to save the world... to a terrible crash course in parenting. As she began to realize this, she began to question herself. Was she capable of doing this? Could she save the world? Could she keep these kids going? Could she take care of her loved ones? Could she maintain her sanity!?! These thoughts were pressing themselves deeper and deeper into her skull. They were all that she could manage to think. Would she be able to protect these children, her brothers and her friends? Would she be able to protect her family back home, from being destroyed by the coming monsters or the depleting mana? Would she end up disappointing the world? Would she be blamed for it all when the world undoubtedly came to an end in these next few years? Would she even be able to look at herself... in those last few moments of life... after she had failed and let everyone down?

Tor had always been one of those people that was skeptical about everything, someone that picked out everything that could go wrong. It had always suited her fine in the past... when judging others. Now that it came time to mull over herself and her goals, her plans... "I guess it's true what everyone says, about being your own worst critic." Tor muumbled to herself, shuddering. She felt for certain that she would be the cause of many deaths, ones that she would regret. She knew that something terrible was going to happen. She knew that she'd never be able to forgive herself for what was going to happen. She didn't know exactly what was going to happen... but she knew that there was nothing she could do to stop it.

Only did she finally realize that she was crying, when the droplets fell from her chin and onto the last ember of the camp fire. It went out so quickly... as quickly as Tor's hope escaped her. She gave one shallow breath, wiped at her tears, and crawled into a sleeping bag.


	7. The Answers To The Questions

Well, I hope that you are liking this story so far. I'm working really hard on this piece. I'm putting a lot of thought and emotion into it. I want it to be a dramatic and possibly heart wrenching tale. It may not seem so yet, but you'll be surprised with what I've come up with!!!! Yay!!!!

Chapter SEVEN!!! WOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!!!!

Disclaimer: I own nothing! Mwhahahahahahaha! Why do I laugh, you ask? Simple! I have no idea.

Chapter Seven: The Answers to the Questions

The night seemed to drag on for limitless expanses of time. It felt like milleniums had passed, eons even... but every time she looked at the watch, Tor saw that only a second more had ticked by. She'd tried for ages, in her mind, to get some sleep... keeping her eyes closed and her mind as clear as she could manage. She just couldn't shake the uncertainty.

Sighing, she sat up again. She knew that she wouldn't get any sleep that night, so she gave up on it and began to think again. WAS there anything that she could do? COULD she really manage all of this? She sighed again. Of course not. There was no way that she would be able get herself through this... let alone everyone else. It would probably just save them a ton of wasted time and effort if they gave up now.

"Wait... What am I thinking? How could I-" Tor began whispering to herself. "How? How could I? How could I think of abandoning everyone? How could I think of giving up? I've NEVER given up before... I've never THOUGHT of giving up before... Yeah, giving up is probably the most logical thing to do, but... but... I won't do it." Tor thought. "Why was I even thinking about giving up, losing hope? ... The angel powers... I've been thinking more and more clearly since I got them... Why is that? Is it an effect of them? Is it helping me weigh the chances? No... it can't be. If this is part of the angel powers, they can't expect anyone to make this journey... not if the angels are supposed to think like this... no, NOT if angels think like this. Hmmmm... Is the sense of oncoming danger... bringing out my sense of logic? No, that's just strange... what could it be?"

YAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWN! "Tor, what are you doing up? You restless or something?" Kanny asked, yawning again.

"Oh, um... Hey Kanny. Uh, yeah. I woke up a second ago... can't get back to sleep. Why are you up? I thought you'd be too tired to get up for a good two days." Tor said managing a smile.

"Oh, hahaha." Kanny grumbled. "I'm not that pathetic."

"I did not mean to imply anything, my friend. Everyone was very tired... I expect everyone to need a lot of sleep. We don't usually walk that much in a day. Think about it. We left at noon, then walked for a day and a half with no rest. You all have to be exhausted." Tor whipered... trying desperately not to wake anyone else.

"Yeah, we're all tired... But what about you?" Kanny asked, looking at her friend very seriously. "Are you staying up to watch after us? You can't sacrifice your rest or your health for us. That's not fair to yourself."

Now that she thought about it... Tor realized that she was worried to death that something would happen to these people while they were under her care... THAT'S why she couldn't sleep!

"I'd never do something so foolish..." Tor grumbled. "I'm the most logical person here, my friend. I know that I'm no good to you all if I don't have any energy when I'm needed to." She was lying through her teeth. She knew that she'd be worthless if she was too tired, but she wasn't tired yet... and she couldn't leave them unguarded in the night. She was doing something foolish... but not in her mind. It may seem foolish to her friend, but she had no idea what sort of responsibility this was. She knew that they were saving the world, but not that if they didn't save it... no one would. It may have crossed her mind... but there was no way that Kanny knew that the fate of the world and everyone on it was really and truly resting on their shoulders. Tor knew... she knew it very well. The angels had reminded her over and over, constantly telling her to watch over these people, constantly warning he to be careful, constantly telling her that it was all up to her. It was a lot of pressure for a fourteen year-old to have.

"Alright, but if you need to talk about anything... I'm here for you." her friend muttered, crawling back into her sleeping bag and nodding off.

"What to do? What to do? What to do?" Tor mumbled, beginning to pace slowly. She still couldn't sleep. She couldn't stop thinking. She had to get these kids to JAPAN! How on earth was she supposed to do that!?!

Suddenly, an idea struck her. Not one of those ideas that she would quickly discard either, but a valid idea. How had this journey begun? With a visit from angels... So, how would this journey continue? Tor would speak with the angels again.

"Lloyd!" Tor whispered sharply. "Collette!" she hissed. "I need to talk with you!"

There was no response. "PLEASE! Help me out! I really need to talk to you!"

Still, there was no response. No one was answering. Not Lloyd, and not Collette. "Don't tell me you're sleeping! I NEED help! Please. ANYONE! I NEED help." Tor whispered, on the verge of tears. This just wasn't working out. Nothing was going as planned. Maybe giving up WAS the only way to go.

NO! She wiped away the tears and clasped her hands. How do you talk to angels? How do you get your messages to god(or gods and goddesses... whatever religion you may be...)? What do I do when I'm losing hope? Well, personally I pray. Tor began praying. She thought so hard, willing the prayer to the angels... praying that the prayer would reach the ones it was meant for.

"So... You're the one that Lloyd stuck with the job. I really don't envy you, Tor." a voice whispered in her ear. Surprised by this, Tor spun around. "No need to be afraid! Just please, don't tell me you don't like half elves!" the voice said.

Tor stared at the person in front of her. He was a rather handsome man. He looked very young, and very happy. He looked to be not much older than her cousin Sheen. He looked to be in his mid teens... Maybe even around her age, probably older though. That wasn't possible. He knew about Lloyd, the job she had received, even half-elves. He had to be...

"Are you Genis?" Tor asked as she continued to stare at the boy in front of her.

"You're pretty well informed." he replied in a laughing tone. He smiled. "So, you need some help? Lloyd actually IS sleeping now, the lazy bum. As for Collette, she was never the brightest. So, I'll help you out. What do you need?"

"Wow... I'm actually meeting Genis!" Tor grinned. "Um... Well, after some travel... the members of the group are tired and... just pushed beyond their limits. I don't think that we'll be able to make the journey. Not judged on the way we're all performing now." Tor began.

"Hmmm... Continue." Genis said, looking deep in thought.

"We are supposed to make the pilgrimmage without all of the modern conveniences that we are used to, at least in the transportation field. Somehow, I don't think we'll even be able to get to the next Chosen." Tor grimaced.

"That is pretty bad." Genis muttered. "Maybe you should make a bit of a detour before you get the next Chosen." he suggested.

"What sort of detour do you mean?" Tor asked. She was willing to listen to some new ideas. She was thrilled to be speaking with someone that was said to be so intelligent. Once she had read about Genis and his part in the regeneration of the world, she became something of a fangirl. She wished that she could talk to him and learn more about what had actually happened. When it came down to it, Tor loved history. What a nerd!

"Well, as you read in The Kharlan War, A History, there was an organization known as the Renegades. That organization still exists today. They do what they can to make advancements in science, AND aid the Chosens' group. They try to keep the world in the best shape they can... They should be able to help you." Genis explained.

"The Renegades are still around? Fascinating. Do you really think they can help?" Tor muttered, beginning to think again. What could they do to help? What EXACTLY could they do to help?

"I think they'll be able to help, and would be very excited to do so. Yuan hasn't had work like THIS in ages." Genis grinned.

"Yuan? Like... THE Yuan? Mithos' companion from the Kharlan War? Martel's love, Yuan? THAT Yuan?" Tor asked. "Hmm... Truly fascinating."

"Yes, that Yuan." Genis said grinning. "Now that you've asked me some questions, I've got a question for you. Is that alright?"

"Sure, what is it?" Tor replied.

"Did Lloyd remember to give you your special exsphere?" Genis asked in a tired voice.

"Exsphere? Um... no. The only things Lloyd gave me were these angel powers and these old wooden swords of his." Tor said spreading her wings and pointing to the swords on her belts.

"Lloyd, you idiot." Genis mumbled. "I'll be right back, WITH your exsphere." he sighed. "Lloyd, you amaze me sometimes... after all these years you're still a child, an irresponsible child." He disappeared.

"Wow. Genis is SO cool!" Tor grinned. Okay, maybe he wasn't the coolest person... but Tor certainly admired him... but then again, Tor tends to admire smart people... nerdy people.

A few minutes later, Genis was back. In his hand, he had a gem attatched to an odd piece of metal with strange symbols and letterings.

"Genis, is that really an exsphere? And a key crest?" Tor asked as she gaped at what he had in his hands.

"Uh-huh." he said grinning. "The Renegades developed it. It's the only one of it's kind. It's YOUR Cruxis crystal, but modified. It was already super powerful because it was a Cruxis crystal made for an angel instead of a Chosen, but they made some alterations to it." Genis began to explain.

"I have a Cruxis crystal, too?" Tor asked. "Wow, cool."

"Yeah. Anyway, they used technology that was created from the making of the Angelus Project Exsphere to enhance it. This is the strongest exsphere ever made, and it's a one of a kind." Genis explained. "And Lloyd forgot to give it to you. He's such an idiot sometimes!"

"And that key crest will make it so that I can wear the exsphere without turning into a... monster?" Tor asked.

"Yup. Dirk, Altessa, AND Lloyd worked on it, using all the Dwarven knowledge on keycrests that they knew. They even made sure that it had the properties of a Rune Crest... to make sure that you wouldn't be effected by the disease of the Cruxis crystal. It's a pretty rare occurence, but they wanted to make sure you were alright... they have new protocols on how Chosens are selected and how they get their Cruxis crystals... they make sure that all of them have a Rune crest to equip." Genis explained... ending up in a lecturing monologue.

"The disease... Wasn't it something like... 'Chronic Angelus Crystallus Inofficium'?" Tor asked.

"Yes, very good. That's the disease alright. You've studied quite a lot for this journey, haven't you?" Genis said smiling.

"Well, originally it was for a history project... but once I was told about this journey, I've sort of been working on committing the book to memory." Tor admitted. It was a bit embarrassing to admit that she was spending her free time memorizing that huge old book. She had heard thousands of times that history repeats itself... so she wanted to make sure that she was prepared, just incase it actually DID repeat itself.

"Wow. A human is actually committed to their studies!" Genis said grinning. "Sorry, but when you spend thousands of years with humans like Lloyd, you don't expect humans to actually be intelligent. No offense."

"None taken. From what I see, when you have Lloyd as an example, you have every right to think it a rule that humans are babbling fools... but now that you've met me, you've found the greatest exception to that little rule." Tor grinned back. Okay, she had a bit of an ego... everyone blamed her father for that... and her mother... okay, they all had pretty big egos in her family.

"Indeed I have," Genis said... actually sounding serious.

"Um... Thanks. I really appreciate all the help you're giving to us," Tor murmured as she pocketed the special Cruxis crystal and Rune crest. "About the Renegades, any idea where we could find them?"

"That, I'm not exactly sure about. We haven't been in contact with them lately, so that we could avoid interrupting their research. Sadly, the result of losing contact is losing knowledge of their work and where they are." Genis sighed.

"That is potentially problematic. Do you have any idea as to what country they would be in, at least?" Tor grimaced.

"I believe that they were in Canada last time we were in contact with them. It would be best to start the search there and look for leads." Genis explained.

"Very well then. We'll start heading for Canada once everyone is rested... Is there any particular place in Canada that we should check?"

"I would suggest going into Québec. Check Chisasibi, Québec. It's on the northeastern coast of the James Bay. That's where they were last located. It would be a good place to start an investigation." Genis lectured.

"That's a pretty long way. I don't think we could walk all the way there. I think we would be best off taking some of the older trains... those kinds that were around before... so we should be able to use them if they are the inconvenient slow ones... We can have slightly convenient transportation without going against the rules of the pilgrimmage. Do you think that would work, Genis?"

"Yes, it should. I wish you the best of luck with this journey... I'll try to help you as much as I can." Genis said, beginning to disappear again.

"Oh, um... Alright. We'll do our best!" Tor murmured to him as he slowly disappeared. She'd hoped he would stay longer. She was used to having no one to talk to... but it was nice to be around people. She liked having someone to talk to... instead of having to just keep inside her head, thinking.

"So, we're off to Canada." she whispered, laying down on her sleeping bag. "This is going to be a hassle."


	8. Canada or Bust, Hopefully Canada

Chapter Eight... I am getting so tired of typing up stuff. It's much more fun to just plan it out in your head and not get around to typing... but then no one could read it or review it... and then I wouldn't get any tips on how to get better at writing. Sigh. How droll, how very droll.

Zelos: You put the brat in the story, but NOT ME!?! That's so unfair, bud!

Me: Don't call me 'bud'! Dude, do you have any idea how much I used to say that, even before I played the game and heard you use it? But now, everyone assumes that I am copying you... It's so unfair!

Zelos: They think you're copying me because people naturally feel the urge to admire me. I'm THAT great!

Me: I have an ego like that too, but again... people think I'm copying you! Why is fate so cruel?

Zelos: If it'll make you feel better, hunny, I'll do the disclaimer.

Me: Would you?

Zelos: Alright all my cute hunnies out there, this voluptuos hunny of a writer doesn't own Tales of Symphonia, or me... but she wants too. Then again, who wouldn't want to own the great Zelos? Well, that's the disclaimer!

Me: Please don't call me that. Hunny alone is good enough; you don't need to add anything else.

Chapter Eight: Canada or Bust, Hopefully Canada

"So, we'll be going to Canada. Is that understood?" Tor asked. She looked around at the people in her group, pondering what their reactions would be. She didn't have to wait long to find out.

"That's SO dumb! Why on earth would we go to Canada? It's totally out of the way! What's wrong with you, you... you idiot!?!" Maggy cried. She wanted to save the world and get it over with. The sooner she could return home and be celebrated as a hero, the better. She didn't want to go through Canada and waste all that time.

"That IS out of the way, Tor. I thought that you said we had to hurry so that the world would be saved. What's up now? Why Canada?" Otto asked. The idea of going to Canada did seem a bit absurd.

"I was planning our next course of action last night, but required a bit of help. I prayed to the angels for some help, but they were kind of asleep, too. So, the half-elf known as Genis came to help me instead. He said to look for the organization known as the Renegades. Last he saw them, they were in Canada. So, we're going to look for some clues as to where they are now. If we find them, they should be able to help us with the journey... a lot." Tor explained.

"The Renegades? That organization doesn't sound very friendly. How would they be able to help us?" Kanny asked.

"I'm not EXACTLY sure how they would help us, but Genis said they would be a big help... so I'm sure that everything will work out." Tor sighed. It didn't seem like a very good arguement. It was a pretty weak arguement, actually. Most of the time, Tor was good at arguing... but now, she was too depressed to argue the point. What good was arguing, anyway? She knew that they would eventually have to listen to her, seeing as she was the best informed and had the most power.

Was she depressed? She thought so, but she wasn't sure. She was probably just out of it, tired maybe. She hadn't slept a wink. She was just tired, she concluded. Just tired.

"Pretty weak arguement. Alright, what's up? That's unlike you." Krate probed. "MY little sister doesn't give weak arguements. She gets a powerful arguement and won't shut up until she's forced everyone to take her side. What's the deal?"

"Why TRY to force you on my side? I have the position of power right now; you HAVE to go along with what I say. That being said, we are going to Canada whether you like it or not." Tor growled.

Kanny was the only one bothering to try and talk to Tor. She knew that Tor was mad, but she also knew that her best friend couldn't ever stay mad at her... and seeing as she had done nothing to make Tor mad, and Tor was just mad in general, Kanny would be fine.

"So, where in Canada are we going?" Kanny asked as they stepped from the platform onto the train.

"We are going to a place in Québec called 'Chisasibi'. It was where the Renegades' last recorded base was. We'll go there, see if they are still around there... and if they are not, we'll look for clues that could help us find their new location. Understood?" Tor grumbled.

"Sure! So, who was that guy that told you to find the Renegades? Is there a picture of him in the book?" Kanny asked reaching for Tor's pack.

Tor let her pull out the book, then replied. "Yes, I'll show you a picture of him. Look, right there. That one, with the silver hair. He's that boy... but that was thousands of years ago. Now, his body looks like that of a boy around our age, maybe a little older." Tor said smiling.

"You think he's cute, don't you?" Kanny smiled slyly. "You like him!" she whispered the taunt in her friend's ear.

"Kanny, that's absurd. For one thing, he's Gramps' friend. Second, I think he's married to the girl from the picture... The one with pink hair. And third, I like to stick to guys of my own age group. He looks like a teenager, but he talks as if he were an adult. It's rather dull." Tor explained.

"Tor, most of the time... when you aren't like, humoring us, you speak like an adult! Kids don't say 'It's rather dull.' Adults say that. Even when you try to talk like a kid, so that your brothers and everyone else understand you, you can't help sounding like an adult. It comes to you naturally. You're just a really good speaker." Kanny cried, exasperated.

"By 'good' do you mean eloquent? Good is such a general term, and-" Tor began. "I'm doing it right now, aren't I? I'm slipping into my usual manner of speech. Darn it."

"Hehehehehe! You really CAN'T help it, can you?" Kanny laughed. "So, since you don't like him... can I?"

"Oh, so THAT'S what you were getting at!!" Tor hissed back in her friend's ear. "Yeah, it's fine with me... but I'm pretty sure he's married to that girl, Presea."

"Hmmm, well... I don't care. He's cute in that picture and he's got to be HOT now. I still like him." Kanny said grinning widely.

"Cool, because Genis is a genius, too. He's got looks and brains, my friend. You really picked your guy well... except for the fact that I'm pretty sure he's married after all these thousands of years." Tor laughed.

"Do you have to keep bringing that up? You're ruining my day dreams." Kanny complained.

"Day dreams? Oooh! What kind? What are you and Genis DOING in that head of your's, Kanny? You got your mind in the gutter, my friend?" Tor pressed, grinning wildly... in an almost manic way.

"Wha- What!?!" Kanny sputtered out. "Tor! How could you say that about me!?! I'd NEVER think up something like that!!!" Kanny cried, waving her hands in front of her face for added affect.

"Relax, I was just teasing! But, it's rather suspicious that you'd be so defensive about it... You WERE having nasty, lecherous thoughts about him, weren't you?" Tor squealed, delighted that she had something to hold over her friend's head... She was feeling better already.

"Alright," Krate broke in, "you two are acting strange. You alright? What are you scheming? Out with it."

"We are sheming nothing. Besides, if we WERE scheming something... we'd be smart enough not to get caught by the likes of you, Big Brother." Tor growled. "I would like to think that I was an intelligent enough person to trick someone of YOUR capacity."

"Whatever. Just hush up a bit. We all want to get some more sleep while we're riding the train. After all, we'll be doing a lot of walking once we get off." Krate grumbled, going back to the other side of the train compartment and sitting down. He shut his eyes and seemed to drift off to sleep.

"Krate is so strange. First he seems worried about you, then he's a pain in the butt! What's up with your brother?" Kanny asked.

"We're family, so he's naturally worried for my welfare... but as an older brother, he's supposed act like he doesn't care... atleast, that's what other brothers do. I suppose he feels compelled to act the same way as the other guys. I guess that he realized that he wasn't acting like a 'normal' brother, so he tried to make up for it by being worse to us. He's really not that good at pretending he doesn't care about us..." Tor analyzed.

"Us? You mean you and Otto?" Kanny asked.

"Nope, I mean all of us. I think he feels obligated to protect all of us and sort of babysit us all. He's recognized that we're like one big family now. He's going to treat all of us like siblings. Trust me on this." Tor replied, yawning.

"Why would he protect all of us? Why would he feel the need to? YOU'RE the angel, YOU'RE the one that's supposed to protect all of us. You said so yourself. The angel told you to protect everyone." Kanny said frowning in confusion.

"Lloyd. The angel's name was Lloyd... I think we should call everyone by their names... instead of referring to them by their race or species or whatever. It seems like a more appropriate thing to do." Tor mumbled.

"Oh, um... Lloyd told you to protect us. Why would Krate feel the need to protect us, especially you?" Kanny probed.

"Oh, well that's simple. He's the OLDER brother. He feels obligated to protect those that are close to him... and younger than him. He's the oldest person here... but not the strongest. Yeah, he's extremely tall and that's pretty intimidating to most people... but I think he feels inadequate. I think he feels that he can't help... he's insecure. He wants to prove himself. He also wants to seem like the cool and uncaring older brother. He's having a mental struggle while he's trying to choose which one to be. He can't seem to do both very well... so I guess he'll try to choose... Let's just forget about it for now. Heh heh heh! I'm probably just making things overly complicated." Tor said, finally throwing another grin on her face.

"Your family is so strange." Kanny muttered, shaking her head in slight confusion.

"Well, we're all family now, like I said... so you're strange too!" Tor said grinning widely. She laughed as her friend pouted at the thought of insulting herself. It was too fun to mess with people!

They all got a few hours of sleep while waiting in their compartment of the train. It was small compartment... so they were all sort of crammed together as they slept.

Krate was the first one to wake up. "Dang it. Sleeping while sitting is not good for my back." he complained. He was about to stand and stretch, but stopped when he realized that something was in his lap... weighing him down. He looked down and tried to keep a scream from crawling out of his throat.

In his lap was Maggy. She had fallen over sideways in her sleep... and now layed with her head in Krate's lap, sleeping peacefully. Krate was not a big fan of his younger sister's friends... especially Maggy. He always thought she was a bit creepy. She was just a strange person. He really didn't like that girl... and the thought of her sleeping with her head in his lap was a frightening thought.

He turned his head every which way, looking for something... ANYTHING to get him out of this awkward situation. Suddenly, he was aware that someone besides himself was awake... or at least beginning to wake up. Who was it? Who was the one that would catch him in this unfortunate situation? He was truly freaking out.

"What the heck is Freaky Maggy doing on me?" Krate gasped. He had decided to act as if he just woke up... making the situation seem a little less suspicious. If the person who was waking up thought that he was still wondering what had happened... maybe they wouldn't taunt him... maybe they'd even help him.

Kanny yawned. She carefully stretched, making sure not to wake up Tor who had been sleeping next to her. Otto was leaning on his big sister... he was all curled up in a blanket. He looked like an adorable little kid. It was hard to believe that he was already in seventh grade. Looking around, Kanny spotted Krate with Maggy's sleeping head on his lap.

"Krate." Kanny whispered. "What's going on?" A smirk started to form on her face, a snide remark ready to leave her lips.

"Kanny. Glad you're up!" Krate whispered hurriedly. "Please, help me! Help me get her off of me!" he hissed.

Kanny stared. What exactly was going on? "Why should I help you?" Kanny whispered back to him. Why should she help him when he's been being so rude lately? "Wait... what did Tor say earlier?"Kanny thought to herself.

_"_ _I suppose he feels compelled to act the same way as the other guys."_ She was remembering it perfectly. _"He's really not that good at pretending he doesn't care about us..." _That's what Tor had said!

He cared about Tor and Otto a lot. _"Nope, I mean all of us. I think he feels obligated to protect all of us and sort of babysit us all. He's recognized that we're like one big family now. He's going to treat all of us like siblings. Trust me on this." _He cared about all of them!

_"He's the OLDER brother. He feels obligated to protect those that are close to him... and younger than him." _He wanted to protect all of them. _"...pretty intimidating to most people... but I think he feels inadequate. I think he feels that he can't help... he's insecure" _Insecure. It's sad to think of that.

_"He's having a mental struggle ..."_ Mental struggle... Waking up with Maggy hanging all over him had to bring on some sort of mental struggle.

"He's trying to help us..." Kanny thought. Sighing, she knew what she had to do. She had to help Krate. Kanny stood up and tip-toed over to Krate.

"I thought you wanted me to give you a reason to help me... What's up?" Krate hissed at the girl. He had noticed the smirk she had on earlier. He was pretty skeptical about what was going on.

"Forget it. I'm helping you, so just thank me or whatever." Kanny grumbled. Krate began to pick up Maggy's head, very carefully. Kanny placed her hands underneath Maggy's head and took over that part of the project. Krate began to gently nudge Maggy away from him. In about fifteen minutes, they had successfully moved Maggy.

"Thanks, Kanny. But... Why? Why'd you help me?" Krate asked looking the girl square in the face. Something was strange.

"We're all a team... a family. We have to watch out for eachother. Even if it turns out that we're protecting eachother from eachother." Kanny said grinning. She actually was glad that she could help out Krate. Like Tor said, HE was watching out for THEM. He really cared. She figured that she'd owe him one eventually anyway.

"So, we're taking a boat to Canada now?" Maggy said as the group stepped off of the train and onto the platform. The five children had taken trains all the way to Traverse City, Michigan (If anyone is wondering where I get my cities... I pick them at random from my school atlas. It's a surprisingly convenient tool for me. It helps my writing stay slightly more real... --). Now, they would take a small and slow moving, totally inconvenient boat. It would go through Lake Michigan, then Huron, and finally into the George Bay. After they got back to land, they would work their way through Ontario. They would keep going until they reached Amos, a city that was a bit of a ways into Québec. Then, Chisasibi would only be a little over four hundred miles away.

"Yeah, we'll take a boat. We'll have to rest as much as we can, because we won't stop in any cities in Canada for over two hundred miles. The first city we'll stop in will be Amos in Québec." Tor explained.

"You're kidding me!" Otto cried. "You can't expect us to go that far without stopping!"

"We will stop before then, but we'll be camping out instead of staying in a hotel in a city... though with our limited budget, we'll only be able to stay in so many hotels... and by so many I mean so few." Tor grumbled.

"You know what I've realized?" Kanny grumbled, looking at the people surrounding her. All of them were taller than her... Maggy wasn't much taller, but she was still taller. As for the the three siblings, they were all a bit tall for people their age. Krate was abnormally tall... but it looked like Otto would be even taller... even though he was just eleven and Krate was almost sixteen. Tor was fourteen, almost fifteen, and had started getting sensitive about her height. Otto was only an inch or two shorter than her... and it bothered her... and Kanny. Kanny thought it was odd how tall the boy was. He was a GIANT!!!

"No, what have you realized, my travel-sized friend?" Tor said, putting on a devilish looking smirk. Something told Kanny that Tor knew exactly what she was about to say. She always had such a superior look on her face when she was certain that she had perfectly analyzed a person... so she smirked quite a lot. Also, she loved to mention her friend's height when it would bug her the most. She always seemed to know just when the comment would strike a nerve. She never meant for the remark to be hurtful, she just like to push her buddy's buttons.

"Well, I've come to realize that camping sucks out loud!!!" Kanny groaned. "We need to find some way to get some more money! We can't rely on the money Tor saved for her college tuition FOREVER! You know how limited that fund is!"

Yes, the money they were using to travel and pay for everything was taken out of the money Tor had saved for college. Everyone knew that she'd get some huge scholarship... so they didn't REALLY mind taking the money... Tor also knew that she wouldn't need much money for college. The fund was, therefor, significantly lacking. Their money was VERY limited.

"Money will become an issue very soon," Tor grumbled. She had already gotten money from their village and her parents... but they were already running out. They would probably be out of cash by the time they got to Chisasibi... maybe even Amos! How long could the kids be expected to live off of cheap, instant ramen? How long would they be expected to boil water until they were sure it was clean, just to have a drink? How long were these kids expected to make it, when they were so used to modern conveniences?

"We'll just have to find some way tro make some cash. How hard could it be, eh?" Krate said, smiling as he mocked Canadians with his little addition to the end of his sentence.

"Bud, with you acting like that... we'll be banned from Canada before we even get there." Tor sighed, smiling nonetheless. She only slipped into that mode of speech when she was in a really good mood. She'd act all happy and smile, but not in the way that had her brothers worrying. She'd be truly happy and call people 'Bud' and 'Hun' or even 'Hunny'. (This is true. I really do act like that when I'm really happy. I've talked like that even before I became a Zelos fangirl... but most of the time I speak like an adult... or in some annoying Professor-esk way)

"What's got you in such a good mood, Sis?" Otto asked. He stared at his sister.

"Hmm? Nothing in particular, Hun. I'm just feeling pretty good today, I guess." she said grinning. Today, despite the problems that were right on the horizon, she felt like everything would be alright. It was just a good day. She had finished her first train ride, and was about to disembark on her first boat ride. It was turning out to be an exciting journey so far.

With that matter settled, they made their way to the docks (I don't know if Traverse City has any docks... but it was on the lake side).

"O, Canada!" Kanny sang merrily, as they crossed the international border. They were still sailing as she sang the song, but they were all still happy. They had made it to the land of maple leaves, hockey, and mountees. Kanny finished the song, hanging over the railing of the boat and laughing at the last few words. There wasn't anything particularly funny about the Canadian national anthem, but she laughed anyway. Tor's good mood seemed to be infectous. They all seemed to cheer right up once they had set sail.

"Kanny! We're in Canada! It's so COOL!!!" Tor cried, running across the deck. She tried to stop, though ended up skidding along the deck and smacking into the railing.

_CRACK!!!_

"Ow! I hit my head on the frickin' railing! Man! That HURTS!!!" Tor cried, rubbing the bump that was quickly forming on her head. She clutched the railing to steady herself. "Did you see that Kanny? The railing like, jumped out at me!" Tor exclaimed, beginning to laugh.

Kanny just smiled. Tor was happier than she'd been in a long time. It was quite a relief, actually. It was kind of frightening to hang out with someone that was always depressed or angry. It was nice to be around her friend when she was actually smiling.

"Tor, it looks like we'll have to file some reports against that railing. Maybe we can make some money off of this!" Kanny said grinning. "We'll take that evil railing to court!" she cried enthusiatically.

"Yeah! What sort of lawyer should we look into? Should we try and get someone from back home, or take one of the native Canadians? Do you think they might have someone that specializes in railing attack cases?" Tor replied laughing.

Kanny just looked at her friend. "You're such an idiot sometimes!" she said giggling. She smacked her friend's arm and laughed some more as the angel in front of her began to whine about the world having it out for her. They both laughed some more.

They finally stopped laughing, only to take a few deep breaths and sigh. The two leaned against the railing, still smiling.

"You know, Kanny, this is pretty great." Tor said, leaning back a bit further. "It's really relaxing out here. I'm really excited to be out here, seeing all these spectacular sights. Just imagine how much better it will be when the world is REALLY flourishing again. I bet it'll seem even better, when we look at it and know that WE were the ones that saved it all." She smiled some more and leaned back further. That time, it was a bit too far.

Kanny turned to look at her friend, ready to tell her how poetic her words sounded, how she was so strange thinking about all of this... but ended up gasping as she saw her friend falling off the boat backwards AND head first.


End file.
